The Beatitudes

The Eight Be-Attitudes all flow from the disposition you bring of yourself before God and who you believe God is… One thing you cannot bring before God is presumption about things, and have no desire to introspect/check/re-evaluate things in the light of what God reveals of himself to you.

To better understand the above ideas let me elaborate. If you come with a desire to grow in the friendship of Jesus, you will gain much, yes you will be what the Eight Beatitudes say – blessed. And  all eight flow from the first beatitude, where you come before God with a learning spirit. Not one that is I-Know-Everything, or I-AM-Right. When we are open to learning, then God can teach us, and polish us to be who we really are – images of Christ himself.

The next thing to watch out for is who we think God is. Our understanding of God puts fences around Him – thus limiting Him in how and how much He can operate in our lives. Some of us come to God with a Master Servant relationship, others with an understanding that God was only for Biblical Times etc. Thus out thoughts mould our actions, where we want to be in charge of our lives as to how and in what direction it moves. Thus there is no possibility of scope to really learning from God, and thus getting acquainted with Him personally today, and therefore He will not be real for us today.

The final point is that of presumptions. Most of these are fashioned by our lives experience, but they may not be True in the absolute sense, because they may still lack some experience, observations, or even our observations possible be wrong. If we hold on to these, we will miss the Truth that Jesus is and brings to our lives. The best example of this in the Gospels are the Pharisees and Scribes. They held on to their understanding, did not introspect and thus missed out on the Truth of All Times – Jesus the Messiah.

I invite you today; being All Saints Day, when we are celebrating our citizenship of Heaven, to open your heart, lay down your rights, and seek more to be like Jesus. Picture him before Pilate and the Sanhedrin, ever fully confident in God His Father, and therefore not requiring to utter even a sound of protest. Jesus Himself is the ultimate confidence of us being able to live the Be-attitudes. Invite the Holy Spirit and ask Him to move you towards a closer relationship with Jesus.